Legendary A&M Records exec Gil Friesen got the idea for the film that became "Twenty Feet From Stardom" while attending a Leonard Cohen concert with his wife.

When the show began, Friesen smoked a joint, then found himself musing about Cohen's talented back-up singers - who they were and what their lives were like.

Later, he called it "the most expensive joint I'd ever smoked," as he bank-rolled filmmaker Morgan Neville's documentary that is one of the opening-night films at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

Sadly, Frieson died last month on Dec. 13. "Gil was an amazing guy," Neville said in a phone interview. "He was a real gentleman in the music industry. He was the ampersand in A & M music."

But amid all of the mourning, there's a lighter note. "He knew that the film had gotten into Sundance, and he was thrilled," said Neville, who was at Sundance in 2011 with "Troubadours," a documentary about the nascent singer-songwriter movement in Southern California in the early 1970s. "His wife, family and friends are coming."

Shining a spotlight on undiscovered musicians was an integral part of Friesen's work, so it's appropriate that his final labor of love was a film that feted back-up singers, the most under-appreciated musicians in the industry.

"[Friesen] came on all the shoots," said Neville, also a producer of HBO and The Rolling Stones' "Crossfire Hurricane," to be released on DVD this month, and Cameron Crowe's brilliant "Pearl Jam Twenty" retrospective. "We talked every day.

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Bette Midler, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, Stevie Wonder and Sheryl Crow were interviewed for the film, but the focus remains on the back-up singers. Neville said some of the singers were happy to sit down and talk with him, but didn't want to be shot on camera.

"That doesn't happen in our culture," said Neville, still amazed at the restraint in a reality TV culture where everyone, it seems, wants to be a star.

But those who did talk included:

Merry Clayton, who sang on Carole King's "Tapestry" and Lynryd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama," and is most famous for being featured prominently in The Rolling Stones' frightening powerhouse "Gimme Shelter."

Lisa Fischer, who currently tours with The Rolling Stones, and has sung with Sting and Chris Botti.

Judith Hill, who was booked to back-up Michael Jackson on his "This Is It" concert series at London's O2 Arena before Jackson's death. She ended up performing as a lead vocalist in Michael Jackson's memorial service, with an estimated 1 billion people watching her sing "Heal the World."

And Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Darlene Love, who before an acclaimed solo career was a member of the Blossoms, who sang on dozens of Top 40 tracks in the 1960s and was an important brick in creating Phil Spector's famous Wall of Sound production style.

"[Spector] always did things to stop my momentum," said Love, 71, in a phone interview, who was so important to Spector that he threatened her livelihood if she ever left his studio.

Love said she is approached all the time by various people to have her participate in film projects. She usually responded, "Oh, this is cute. Where is this going?" before politely declining.

She had the same blasé reaction when she was approached by "Twenty Feet From Stardom" until Dick Donner (director of "Superman: The Movie" and the "Lethal Weapon" franchise, in which Love portrayed Danny Glover's wife) and Lou Adler (record producer, manager, director, owner of the famous Roxy Theatre, who often sits with Jack Nicholson during Lakers games) convinced her to take a meeting with Friesen. That's when she realized that this would be an important project for an important man, and decided to sit for interviews.